Riddles and Darkness
by Dark Fae Angel
Summary: Charlie and Don are stuck. Twelve identical murders in six weeks each with the same bloody undecodable message left behind. when all seems lost an outsider comes to help solve the case, but why is she so misterious. CharlieOC
1. Darkness

Disclaimer: I'm only saying this once so pay attention: I DO NOT OWN NUMB3RS OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS. I would, however, like to meet David however you spell his last name. He was so cute in The Santa Clause 1&2. I do own Rose and the cult…….not that said cult actually exists, its pure fiction……really. Heh heh.

_12 Murders_

_12 Messages_

_0 Leads_

_0 Clues._

Agent Don Eppes viewed the massacre that was his crime scene. He'd seen the same exact thing eleven times before but it never made it better. The body of a girl, maybe nineteen or so, lay naked in spread-eagle position, her wrists and throat split but no trace of blood anywhere save the strange markings on the wall that never varied. The thing that really got to him, the thing that he knew would haunt his dreams until this case was finally solved was how each girl's face was paralyzed in an eternal scream, as if they died screaming.

"Don….Don!"

"Wha…..Yeah?" Don was pulled from his thoughts by his partner, Terry. The female cop led him away from the gruesome scene.

"Don that's twelve now. Is Charlie any closer to cracking that message?"

"I don't know. Lets go see if he's made a dent in it."

* * *

Charlie Eppes sat in the same position he been in all day, leaned against his desk with a look of complete concentration on his face. For weeks now he'd been working on this puzzle. The first three lines were symbols unrelated to any well none language, the last line, however, was a series of numbers separated as if to create words, or dates, or something. But the thing was he couldn't crack it. He just knew that if he under stood the first lines that it would help him solve the rest, but how could he solve what did not exist?

"Hey Charlie."

Charlie turned to see his brother Don and Don's partner Terry in the door way. They looked hassled and worn out, like they hadn't slept since the case started almost four weeks ago. They probably hadn't. But their eyes held that look, something had happened.

"What's up?"

"There's been another murder Charlie. We were wondering if you've made any progress."

Charlie turned back towards the board, but Don knew he wasn't really looking at the problem. Don walked to his younger brother. Even from a young age he'd always doted on Charlie, sheltered him from the world. He knew letting him help solve the cases would be shoving some of the worst things that human kind could do into Charlie's face. He knew he couldn't protect Charlie forever, especially since their mother's death, but he could damn well try.

"Charlie?"

"I think it's meaningless. I can't figure it out. I've run it against the alphabet, both forward and back. It just doesn't make since. There's no pattern, no problem, no nothing. Maybe if I new what these symbols meant then I might be able to do something but I can't right now. There's just not enough data."

"Charlie maybe we could put this problem aside for a while and you could help us with something else. The attacks are speeding up. If I give you the case files could you predict his next kill?"

Charlie looked to his brother. He knew this ploy. Don hoped that in his distraction, Charlie might realize the answer to the original problem as well as solving the second. The proverbial killing two birds with one stone as Larry would say. Thing was Charlie new it wouldn't work this time. But seeing as finding the killer would prove this problem pointless…

"Alright Don."

"Okay lets," Don was cut off by his cell, "Eppes. Yeah? That's great. We'll be right there." He pocketed his phone and turned towards his partner, "That was Sinclair, he said some professor in Montana recognized the symbols in the message, he's sent his assistant to help us, she'll be arriving within the hour."

"From Montana?"

"Yeah apparently it took him a while to call. Let's go." He turned to his sibling, "You too Charlie, this could really help you."

The three left. Two of them were hoping that this was the break they had so desperately needed, one however, Charlie, couldn't help but feel that this case, was more than they bargained for.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See Chapter1

A/N: Sorry this took me a while. I had the meaning of the message in my head then I lost it, so if it sounds weird blame the low sugar intake.

* * *

"Has she arrived yet?"

Sinclair glanced up from the case files to see Don and Terry arriving with Charlie in tow. Sometimes he began to wonder if there was ever going to be a case where they didn't need Charlie's help. Probably not. The guy could figure out anything with his numbers, so why was this case so different?

"Not yet." Sinclair answered and in a under tone to Don, "Listen this guy's like sixty or something and he says that he's known her for a long time. She can't be much younger. He tried to tell me something else but the line got cut."

Don looked at him, worried, "Are you sure it wasn't one of those long distance problems?"

"Positive the line just went dead; otherwise he would have called back. He said that something was important."

Don turned to the growing yet still small group of agents coming into the room.

"Okay people. Our contact should be arriving very soon, now keep in mind that we think that she not the youngest person we've dealt with but I want her under extreme supervision at all times. We don't need anything else happening. Now Charlie..."

He was cut off by someone rapping on the glass door that separated the room from the rest of the department. He turned to see a young woman, probably twenty at the most looking into the room. He went over and opened the door.

"Can I help you?"

She slid by him into the room taking in her surroundings. Her hair was long and a dark red, close to the color of blood almost. It worked well with her fair skin. She wore all black. Black pants, shoes jean jacket and a small shirt that showed off her midriff. Not very professional.

"I'm Rose Anguis, the specialist."

The whole room seemed to be holding its breath. Rose, however, seemed oblivious to this fact. She walked up to the board were and enlarged copy of the message hung. Charlie was frozen, with what he didn't know. He'd never been one for the fairy tale of love at first sight, but something had struck him when she'd walked in. But under all the confusion lie an emotion he knew very well. Fear. For a reason unknown he feared this girl. Oh, but in the same moment he'd finally found something that he could look upon without an equation coming to mind. Bliss in human form.

"Jeez, Danny made it seem like you guys actually had something difficult. Give me five minutes and I'll have the first three lines done……the last one, you're on your own."

She walked up to the white board and picked up a maker. She stood as if she was about to write, but stopped. She looked back at the message as if deciding something, then looked around the room, realizing that everyone was watching her.

"Did I do something wrong?" Her face held a look of pure innocence.

It took a while but Don was the first to recover.

"We just didn't expect you to be so….young."

Rose looked at him. For a split second she seemed to be upset with this information. But she quickly covered this with an easy grin.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. Danny makes me seem older. Tells people that he's known me for a long time. It's true, the guy practically raised me. No big."

She turned and looked back at the board.

"I have a feeling you guys might be needing me for more than decoding this though."

Don seemed shocked by this. Apparently this girl knew meant already.

"Why do you say that?"

"See for yourself."

Rose picked the pen back up and began to write.

_My Queen, My Goddess,_

_The dark festival approaches_

_Join me one last time before our world ends._

The agents just stared. Charlie was even more confused than before. _How's that supposed to help us? What does this mean?_ He glanced around the room, looking at the other's faces. Clearly they were thinking the same.

"Let me guess" It was Terry this time, "you know exactly what this means?"

A crooked grin grew on Rose's face. "Sit down, get comfortable. This might take a while. Daniel and I work in a rather….unpopular field of research. History on the paranormal specializing in vampires."

She stopped studying the faces of the agents. Most stared at her in disbelief, a few looked like they were about to laugh. The young curly-haired man in the corner, however, had the same look on his face that he'd had since she first walked in. It was beginning to unnerve her.

"Trust me, some of the things I'm going to tell you are bound to be weirder. These symbols originate from a rather intrusting vampyric cult, that we believe first came into existence around the time of the Renaissance."

"So what you're saying is that we're dealing with some cult killer?" Don interrupted. If this was the case, it should be relatively easy to find the killer.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch your name?"

"Special Agent Don Eppes."

"Right. Well Agent Eppes, I'm sorry to disappoint you but no we're dealing with something a little more….dangerous. Now if you don't mind I would like to continue without being interrupted."

Charlie fought back a laugh. If he didn't know any better he'd think he was in some lecture back at the college. He glanced at his older brother, who seemed appropriately chastised but Charlie caught the defiant glimmer in his eyes.

"As I was saying. The cult was created by four persons who though themselves to be vampires. They worshiped another vampire who they believed to be their sire. She was a goddess and queen to them, which explains the first line. Like most people would think, they had rituals; none however was as bloody as what they called The Festival of the Dead. It is said that in one night they killed over two hundred people. Now you may interrupt."

Don was the first to react, very loudly react. "Are you saying that we might be dealing with the deaths of over two hundred people on our hands?"

"Well yes and no. You see, this is where things get weird. To keep people from finding them, they held the festivals every hundred and fifty two years. That right there we knew shouldn't have been correct but from the evidence it had to have been. And after every festival they'd torch the coven and find a new one. Which weren't too hard to find when we were searching. All in big cities, the last was in New York around the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. The odd thing was, this coven had been abandoned and not burned. Also city history does not show for that many missing people in one night."

"What does that mean?"

"We're not sure. We believe the cult was disbanded for reasons unknown. When we found the last coven, however, there were some very interesting artifacts." Rose stopped and walked over to the door where she'd left a black book bag. She pulled out a few files and walked back to the center of the room. "These are some photocopies of art found at the coven. This appears to be the oldest."

She held up a photograph of a very old painting depicting five people, four men surrounding another figure, which had been scratched out. "I want you all to pay close attention to the details of the men." She held up more pictures all of paintings getting newer and newer. All of the same thing. The style of clothing changed as did the poses, but the faces never changed. And in all, a fifth, scratched out, figure.

"They could just be followers depicting the founders in what was to them modern style so make it seem as if they were still alive."

It was Charlie who had spoke. Rose looked at him; it was the first time he'd spoken since she'd arrived. He seemed to understand the point she was trying to make but was very disbelieving in it.

"We thought that also. Until we found this." She then held up an actual photograph. It was of the five figures again, this time in early turn of the century clothing. "It was taken, we believe, just a short while before the cult fell. Now seeing as there we're no computers around at the time to doctor the picture an there could be no other way to explain this, Daniel and I believe we've found the first actual proof of vampires." She paused, waiting for the laughter and biting remarks. Rose's silence was met with the same from the agents.

"Okay…….seeing as how, for the first time, I'm getting no response." She walked up to Don, "I want you to take a look at this man" She pointed to the man closest to the scratched out figure. It wasn't a man really, but a teenager, couldn't be older than any of the victims, or Rose for that matter. He was tall with long dark hair and, all though it was hard to tell from the black and white photo, darkish skin. His eyes were dark, but also cold and cruel. A killer's eyes.

"Now this is an enhanced security photo taken from a Los Angeles airport within the last two weeks. See anyone familiar?"

Don did. Standing in the middle of a crowded room, staring up at the camera was the same man. The same cold cruel dark eyes. And he was smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: see chapter two.

A/N: I liiiiiiiiiiiive. Sorry for the extremely long wait. Mix of things; writers block, loosing my files, new job, new boyfriend, computer crashing, national disasters…. They affect us all. Anyway just wanted to warn you, yes I'm destroying the reality of Numb3rs set by its writers and yes I enjoy it. Oh and have fun!

"So what the hell are supposed to be dealing with! Some mythical person who can't die? Jesus lady, what the hell are you on?"

Rose glared at the agent. He was new to the force and did not expect to be dealing with this madness.

"Hey that's enough. Terry get him out of here." Don interjected stepping in-between the two. Rose hadn't done anything but glare but that had been enough to kick in Don's reflexes. Her eyes followed the agent until he was out of sight.

"Thanks" Her eyes were anything but grateful.

Charlie was still trying to grasp the concept of what he'd just learned. It was illogical. He half expected to hear the _Twilight Zone_ music coming from nowhere. Nope, nothing. But there was something else; in that one second confrontation between Rose and the agent something had changed. He wasn't sure what.

Don glanced at rose who was still staring in the direction the agent had gone.

"So who is this guy anyway?"

Rose looked at him as if coming out of a trance.

"Huh? Oh him. Daniel and I don't know too much about him, but enough to let you know what you're dealing with. His name is Jonathan; if he ever had a last name he abandoned it. He was the youngest of the four but the strongest and cruelest. He found pleasure in torturing his captives mercilessly. He did seem to have an obsession with girls around the victims' ages."

"Anything else?"

"Oh, yeah. He likes Marilyn Manson."

Someone in the back of the room choked on what ever they'd been drinking. The agents just stared.

"What?" Rose looked at them innocently, "What'd I say?"

Don looked at her in disbelief, "How in hell do you know that? And how's that supposed to help us? What are we supposed to do? Bait him with music?"

Rose glared at Don. Her eyes darkened with anger.

"I know this because he knows me. For the last year or so he's been sending letters to Daniel and me. Most of them are so random they're not worth reading but we do anyway. He knows who we are. He knows what we do. Some of his letters are threats. He knows where we live. He's described my bedroom in exact detail. You want to know something about him. He's crazy, but he's smart."

Rose walked back to the board where pictures from the crime scenes hung.

"You see these," Rose pointed at the pictures, "this is nothing to what he can do! He's told me countless times what he really does. He's lightened these killing for you. For you! None of these girls are random; they all have something in common. I know this because Jonathan's picky. He likes girls he can connect with. Hence the Marilyn Manson thing. Ask their parents, ask their friends, they probably were in to his music."

She walked back to the door where, earlier, she had left her back. She took out a manila envelope, went back and started taping its contents to the board.

"This is what he really likes to do."

They were pictures. Picture of bodies, slain and mutilated more than any body than the agents had seen. Women lay naked, much like the victims, but some had their faces ripped of. One had her womb torn open, a headless premature baby lay in her arms. Another had her breasts cut off. The last picture Rose put up was just as bad but seemed somewhat worse. A woman lay naked, chained to a bed, she was smiling. Next to her Jonathan sat smiling at the camera. He was eating her heart.

"Jonathan is getting bored with you. There's two parts to this to him. One part is that he's playing a game with you. He wants to see if you can find him before the ritual. He's also baiting out the others, he wants the cult back together again. Queen and all. If you guys don't find him before the ritual two hundred bodies just like this will be on your hands."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Do any of you people even read these. Obviously if I owned it you'd know, right?

A/N: Sorry for how short that last chapter was. Thanks for the reviews and I hope you guys like the twistedness. Oh and one more thing; I LOVE MARILYN MANSON….. Just wanted to put that out there.

"Oh shit." Don moaned

"Oh shit indeed Agent Epps."

Rose started taking the pictures down from the board. She stopped suddenly and looked toward one of the wall length windows at her left.

"I realize that this all seems unreal and far-fetched. I realize that none of you believe half of what I've told you. I can see it on your faces. There's only one more thing I can show you to prove that this isn't completely crazy."

None of them said anything. Not at first anyway. Charlie had been watching her the whole time with sense of fascination and wonder. He knew that by this time she should have been yelling like crazy trying to get them to believe. But not Rose. She was calm, almost sad.

"What's that?"

Everyone looked to Charlie. It was the first thing he'd said the whole night.

"Simple." They turned back to Rose. She was just pointing to the window.

"What the fuck?"

They were six stories up and yet there he was. Jonathan. Just floating in mid air, hands behind his back watching them. He smirked at them and bowed. He was in all black, black pants, black shirt, black boots, and a black trench coat. He tapped the glass playfully as if testing it then seemed to go into thought.

"How long has he been there?" Don asked.

"Knowing him the whole time. He probably has heard everything we've said. If he hasn't it doesn't matter, he'll just draw it out of our minds. Even a newborn vampire can do that."

"What's he doing now?" It was Charlie again.

"Testing your reactions. Vampires hear hearts. The tune it out most of the time but it's how they fight with other species, they listen to the heart to know when their opponent is preparing for an attack, of for when the opponent is getting tired the heart beats faster so they attack harder. I want you guys to try to be as calm as possible. He enjoys fear. He can tell by your heart if you fear him."

Jonathan's smirk turned into a grin. He shook his head as if to say that it wouldn't work. His grin quickly turned into a frown as the FBI agents began to calm down from the initial shock of seeing him floating six stories high. Jonathan glanced around at the agents before settling on one in the back corner of the room. The frown became a grin again only this time deadlier. He came closer to the glass.

Rose turned toward the agent who seemed to be trying to get as far away from the window as possible.

"Calm down."

The agent looked at her. His eyes kept glancing from her to the window.

"What if he gets in here? You said he was strong right. He could probably kill us all in one blow." His voice was panicky and cracking.

"Just calm down. Fear is making your mind weak. He's getting into your mind. He can't get in here. He can try all he wants to, but he can't okay."

"How do you know? He could probably break the glass with one finger."

"That's true but even if he did he can't get in. Trust me. Now just clear your mind. Think of a fond memory."

The agent closed his eyes and seemed to calm down. Suddenly everyone heard glass cracking. They turned toward the window to see that it had cracked diagonally from the top right corner to the bottom left corner. Jonathan was glaring at them. He pulled his fist back as if to shatter the glass completely but stopped. He looked at Rose and smiled. She glared back. He blew her a kiss and she returned it with the middle finger. His smile grew into the same evil smile from the picture. Then he was gone.

The agents just kept staring at the window. Rose however went back to putting her pictures away.

"Now that you believe me, I can tell you how to kill him, but that's a long and not very interesting lecture for tomorrow. It's late and I need to find a hotel."

Don was the first of the agents to recover.

"Hold on a second Ms. Anguis. Everyone; you are not to speak a word of this to anyone outside this room. Like they'd believe you anyway but it's protocol. Terry, have someone up here tomorrow to fix that window. You are all to meet here tomorrow at eight o-clock sharp! No exceptions!"

Don turned to Charlie and waved him over.

"Ms. Anguis-

"Rose."

"Rose. I would feel more comfortable if you were somewhere a bit safer than a hotel."

"I'll be fine Agent Epps. I've dealt with Jonathan before."

"Be that as it may. You're helping us. I don't want you to suddenly turn up missing or worse."

"I told you, I'll be fine."

"She can stay with me."

They both turned to Charlie.

"Rose this is my younger brother Charlie."

"Nice to meet you. You parents must be thrilled to have two sons as FBI agents."

"Actually I consult for Don. I'm a math professor at CalSci."

"What Charlie's to modest to say, is that he's a math genius."

"Right. Well thanks for the offer but I don't want to be a burden."

"Don't worry you can stay in Don's old room. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Wait you mean he used to live with you?"

"I bought the hose we grew up in."

"Yeah so it'd sound less pathetic when you told people you still lived with dad."

Rose glanced back and forth between the two, before cracking up.

"Okay. I'll stay with you if you promise that I get to see more fights like this."

Don and Charlie just smiled and laughed.

"So is that the only bag you've got?"

"No, the other's are down in the lobby. They wouldn't let me bring the rest up."

"Okay"

Rose and Charlie started to leave when she stopped and turned to Don.

"Agent Epps?"

"Yeah"

"There's one more thing."

"What?"

"The killings are going to change."

"How do you know that? Why are they going to change?"

"I know because he told me. They're going to change because the game has changed. You have an advantage now."

"Oh yeah what?"

"Me."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Who give a flying &$...Whoa I censored myself….. Hope that doesn't happen again. 

A/N: Extended vacation. PARTY! On with the show.

* * *

Alan Epps couldn't help but stare at the young woman sitting across from him at the breakfast table.

"Are you one of Charlie's students, Rose?"

She lowered the newspaper she'd been reading to look at him.

"Alas no. I'm not lucky enough to have the privilege to stare at him for hours on end each day. I'm helping him and Don with a case."

Alan stared at her for a few more seconds before returning to his toast.

"Right, now do you always talk like that?"

"Only in the mornings."

"You dress very unprofessionally for a consultant."

"So?"

"Trust me nobody's going to be listening to you in that."

"Really?"

"Trust me they'll be too busy staring."

"It's not that odd."

"Not too much, but it's a bit revealing."

Rose's attire of choice for the day happened to be a black mini skirt, a blood red halter top and knee-high Doc Martins. Her hair was pulled back from her face by black combs.

"Good point, but its all part of my lesson plan."

"You sound like Charlie."

"Someone say my name?"

Charlie strolled into the dinning room yawning.

"It's nothing." Alan told his son.

"Good cause it's too early." Charlie stated as he continued into the kitchen.

"It's only seven Charlie. Try getting up at four every morning." Rose called after him returning to her paper.

"Why in hell would you get up that early every morning?" Charlie asked coming back into the room with a cup of coffee.

"Best time to go for a hike. Back home I went for a three hour hike every morning. Sometimes I was lucky enough to get some rabbits."

"You took a gun hiking with you?"

"God no! There's no fun in guns."

"Then how'd you get them?"

"I'll show you someday."

The three continued their breakfast in silence till Don got there. He walked into the dining room and started rushing Rose and Charlie.

"Guys we've got to go."

"Don, it's only seven fifteen," Charlie said gesturing to a clock on the wall, "Get a cup of coffee, sit down, and relax."

"How can I relax when there's some psycho killer out there preying on innocent girls! The sooner Rose tells us more the sooner we can get him."

"I wouldn't count on that."

Don and Charlie stared at Rose in disbelief.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!"

"Don language." Alan demanded.

"Sorry dad. But what do you mean?"

"Simple," Rose stated calmly, "I can tell you his weaknesses, I can tell you how to kill him, and I can show you how to defend yourself against him, but that doesn't mean you'll catch him. Jonathan may be insane, but that doesn't mean he's not smart as well. He can lead you into a trap so well designed that you won't believe it until he's killing you. This is nothing but a game to him, you must remember that. Human life is nothing but a game to him."

"Yeah and he's winning."

"That may be true, but we'll catch up. You have me now. I said it last night and I'll say it again he's changed the game because of me, not by much, but it has changed."

"How so?"

"He'll take more time choosing a victim. Before it was predictable, or at least it was to me because I know him. The girls will still be the same age and have similar likes or the way they dress but now he'll dig deeper into their lives. Before it was just pick and choose, seduce and kill. Now he'll probably stalk them until he knows they're the right one. Then he'll take them. Maybe he'll kidnap them, maybe they'll go willingly, who knows, but he will take them. She'll be reported missing. If not he'll let us know. Either way when we know it's him, he'll leave clues. All stating that she's alive and we just have to find her. With each clue we get closer and closer until we come to a place, deserted where no one would hear a girl's horrified screams every night. We'll find her, alive maybe, dead possibly. But it won't matter. He'll have broken her. She'll be nothing but an empty she'll of a person. Nothing useful to us. And then we wait and try again."

"You've done this before." Charlie stared at her, or at least what he could see of her, the whole time she'd kept on reading the newspaper, like she'd been discussing the weather or something.

"Yes. Jonathan stole someone I loved once. I won't let this happen again."

"How do we stop it then?"

"We break the rules of the game."

"How?"

"Simple, steal something of his."

"And we do this how?"

"You leave that to me. We should get going."

Don glanced at the clock; they had fifteen minutes to get to FBI headquarters.

"Shit!"

Rose stood up and grabbed the duffle bag that had been resting at her feet. For the first time that morning Don and Charlie had a good look at what she'd chosen to wear.

"You can't wear that!"

"I can, I will and I am."

"But…"

Don and Rose started to argue about her clothes. Charlie however just stared. _She's got really nice legs… _He thought absentmindedly. He stopped himself. He didn't need to get involved with anybody right now. _Besides what about Amita._ At this thought he looked at Rose again to find that she was looking at him and not Don. _What about her?_

"Look guys we're late as it is. Don just let her dress the way she wants."

"Fine. But I really don't need every man on my team drooling over you like Charlie is over here."

"I am NOT drooling."

Rose looked at the two. They we're arguing like children. Children who had their eyes on the same prize.

"Listen, I don't care. Never did, never will. Can we just go?"

With that Rose walked out of the room and towards the front door. Charlie and Don followed, still bickering. Alan just sat there thinking. He knew his boys, yes they fought. It would be stranger if they didn't, but this. This was different. The last time they'd fought about a girl was high school. Rose was attractive, but to see them fighting like that was strange. Childish really. _This is going to be a very interesting case_, he thought drinking his coffee, _very interesting._

A/N: I really don't like putting a note in the middle of a chapter, I hate it when people do it but, hell, right now it's needed. From now on, until I saw otherwise or the end of the chapter, which ever comes easier, it still going to be in third person but from Rose's perspective, we learn a bit more about her and why she's doing this. M'kay thanks.

She didn't like it. Not one bit. Normally it was easier, fly into some random city, find Johnny, and beat him senselessly till he says he'll leave, actually leave then wait for him to start up someplace else. They'd done it thousands of times since the cult disintegrated. Him the vampire, she the hunter. This time he had to get the cops involved. This time he had to get the media involved. This time he had to call for the ritual. If Rose didn't get him soon, hundreds would die. New vampires would be bred. The City of Angels would become the City of Demons. It would be Rome all over again.

Rose looked at the two brothers sitting a head of her in the car. So young, so fragile. Their lives would be forever haunted by her visit.

"Nothing good can come from evil." She muttered sadly to herself.

"What Rose?"

"Nothing."

The sun was shining. Today she'd lecture and train. Rose would laugh as she'd try to teach the agents how vampires could get through the toughest security carrying more weapons than an army. She would show them how to close their minds to invasions. And she would be human.

"We're here."

"Yay."

Rose grabbed her bag and headed towards the entrance. Once inside, Don and Charlie led her back towards the conference room. Inside all the agents from yesterday were waiting. As expected they stared at her.

"Okay people," she said walking up to the board, "What do you know about vampires?"

She turned and faced them. Expectantly they still hadn't recovered.

"Anyone?"

"They're immortal."

"Very good, your name?"

"Sinclair."

"Thank you Sinclair. More often than not you'll hear that vampires are immortal, but they're not. Immortal means you cannot die. Gods, for instance are immortal. Vampires are called immortal because they don't age. How easily they die depends on how old the vamp is. Who thinks they know how to kill a vampire?"

"Silver bullet?"

"That's werewolves. Come on, hasn't anyone watched any vampire movies?"

"Wooden spike through the heart."

"Very good Charlie. Now in all honesty that would kill anybody, but that has to be the hardest way to kill a vampire. You have to make sure you completely obliterated the heart, then, of course, you have to sit there and wait for all the blood to drain out otherwise they might be able to recover depending on how old they are. Once all the blood drains out you should have something that resembles a cornhusk shaped like a human, pull out a lighter and set that baby on fire, should take about thirty seconds to completely burn up. Then you must remember to scatter the ashes."

"How else can you kill a vampire then?"

"Cut off the head and go through the same draining and burning process. Or you just burn them alive. That's always fun. What else do you guys know?"

"They can't go into the sunlight."

"Now you're really going to hate me. Even the weakest vampire can be in the sunlight all day. They're not even sensitive to the sunlight. That myth came from the fact that it's easier for vampires to travel at night. They can bend the darkness to hide them, but they can still go out into the day to stalk prey."

"They need blood to survive."

"Only the weak ones need to drink every single day. Vampires as old as Jonathan don't need to drink as much as he has been."

"Then why is he?"

"To scare you mostly. But there is something else; the act of drinking someone's blood is incredibly intimate. For vampires it's better than sex. For humans, it depends on the vampire."

"What does that mean?"

"Nicer, older vampires will not kill their prey. They'll take enough to satisfy them for a while and the person they been drinking from will feel groggy but not remember anything. If the vamp is nice they'll remember an intense pleasure."

"If the vampire isn't nice?"

"Pain. Okay we've covered immortality, how to kill, sunlight, and blood drinking. Anything else?"

"I've heard that vampires can shape shift."

"True they can. Jonathan's particular to crows and black wolves, but he can be anything."

"And what about the whole garlic thing?"

"Trust me if you ever try that, the only reason you'll live is because the vamp wouldn't stop laughing."

"They can use your minds to create illusions."

Rose looked at Terry. She could tell that Terry didn't like or trust her yet.

"True but only few vampires are masters at it. Jonathan is good but you tend to find pieces of the illusions that don't fit."

"What about Jonathan though, what do you know of his past?"

"Only that he was created sometime around the beginning of the middle ages by the leader of the cult. She favored him, made him stronger than the others when she made him, but in doing so made the worst mistake of her life. He was sadistic, or at least more so than the others. When she left Jonathan tried to take over, but Kale, the leader's first fledgling and love, destroyed the cult."

"Kale?"

Rose reached into her bag and pulled out the picture of the vampires again. She pointed to the vampire on the center figure's other side, opposite of Jonathan. He was taller with long blood hair.

"I don't know what happened to him after he destroyed the cult."

"Is there anything else you can tell us Rose?"

"Only that if you are stuck having to fight Jonathan, you have a better chance at trying to win a fight with someone who's got a gun and your unarmed. Jonathan will get inside your mind and try to find out what move you are going to use. If you get into that situation don't think and be calm."

"But how do we fight him?"

Rose looked at Don. He didn't really want to try and fight Johnny did he. He'd die.

"You fight him to defend yourself, not to win. You cannot beat him."

"We can if someone has a gun."

"That would be the stupidest thing in the world to do. His reflexes are so great he can dodge the bullets if he wanted to. He might just use his powers to direct the bullets back at you. And even if you manage to hit him and you do hit his heart, it won't do anything. Bullets don't hurt vampires in anyway."

"What about crosses?"

"Myth."

"Then how do we fight him?"

"With these."

Rose reached into her bag and pulled out a rather impressive dagger. The blade shimmered like silver.

"How in hell did you get that past security?"

"The metal detectors don't pick up this type of dagger, it's made from a very rare metal that only be found where Rome once crucified its prisoners. A blade like this takes years to make."

"What's so special about them?"

"Vampires are allergic to the metal. Even the tiniest cut from one of these can cause a vampire to go into a decade of healing sleep."

"Healing sleep?"

"When a vampire is wounded to the point where they can barely drink blood, they go into the ground and sleep. Maybe for a few days, maybe for years, but they always come out healed, stronger and deadly thirsty."

Rose looked around at the group. She could tell that this was making them nervous. None of them probably knew how to successfully fight with a dagger. It was the gun generation. And against a fighter like Johnny… they wouldn't last.

"Look, I can already tell that few of you, if any, know how to fight with these without killing yourself. I can teach you a few things that will keep you alive, but if you ever come up against Jonathan in a fight keep him at bay till you can get a hold of me. Too much blood has been spilt already."

The group looked at her. For many their thoughts were easily read in their eyes. Fear. Pure fear. For some though, like Terry, there was slight distrust. And then there was Don and Charlie. Don's eyes held respect. Charlie's, wonder.

"Alright men," Don started gaining the groups attention, "you heard Rose. But I want to be more careful, if you even see Jonathan, call for backup. I don't want to loose any of you. Now Rose, is there anything you need?"

"A place to teach and train."

"We have a gym downstairs."

"No, too many people."

"Well how about the roof?"

Rose looked at Terry; it was a good suggestion, if unexpected.

"That will do."

* * *

Thank you ever so kindly for all the reviews. It's nice to know that my destruction of our favorites show is loved. Now I'm going to need a little bit of help on the next chapter. I'm hoping to introduce Amita into the story but I was wondering you all would be okay with her having a slight out of character personality. Mostly against Rose. I have a slight plan for Amita later in the story but if it pisses you guys off I don't want to do it. So send in the reviews and opinions. 


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